There are many oil and gas fields that have a significant percentage of their reserves still remaining in the underground formation. Yet wells in these oil and gas fields are only producing at rates which render these wells only marginally profitable. This marginal profitability is due to the characteristic rapid production decline of many reservoirs. This rapid production decline has resulted in the majority of the proven reserves being produced at low rates over many years. Production declines can be attributed to a variety of causes including: water and/or gas coning, compartmentalization of the reservoir, poor horizontal permeability, well bore skin damage and reservoir pressure depletion.
In recent years it has been found that directional or horizontal well drilling technology can make a direct positive impact on all of these reservoir problems, thereby increasing well production rates and ultimate reserve recovery. Unfortunately, directional or horizontal well drilling requires the use of expensive steering tools and complex monitoring equipment. For many well operators, the complexity and associated cost of directional or horizontal drilling into previously untapped reserves is prohibitive and not economically justifiable. There remains, therefore, a need in the art for a method and apparatus that can reliably drill directional and horizontal wells at a relatively low cost.